Peter had to be on an early morning train so we were all up before dawn to say our goodbyes. Simon arrived back from his Israel adventure to give Peter a lift to the station. We then all headed out for daily observations, as usual Joakim at Nordstrand with Knud and Hebe, Anna and I at Grenen with Rolf. It was a busy morning with huge numbers of finches/finke migrating. Over 60,000 by midday! We also saw some Ring Ouzels/Ringdrossel and a few lovely ‘grey ghosts’, Hen Harriers/Bla Kearhog. 

In the afternoon we got on with tasks back at the observatory. I went on a walk back out to Grenen at sunset but didn’t see very much. 

Male Hen Harrier

People: Joakim Mathieson, Peter Denyer, Dante Shepherd, Anna Moulin, Rolf Christiansen, Knud Pederson and Hebe Denny

After a bit of a late night in honour of Peters last few days, we were all a little sleepy! Nether the less, Joakim and Dante where up early and spritely as always, Joakim joining Knud at Nordstrand and Dante with Rolf at Grenen. Anna and I were woken up a little later by a very, very excited Peter who had caught a really very beautiful male Spurvehøg in the garden nets! Anna and I joined him to watch him ring the bird, and then after tidying up the apartment a little headed out to join the others at Grenen.

Peter and The Spurvehøg at Fyrhaven

It was a really lovely outside, with little wind and lots of sun! Making for a happy morning in the dunes. On our walk over to Grenen, Anna and i were chuffed to spot a Great Grey Shrike hanging around the carpark there. The morning got even better, with Grenens friendly fox "Samantha" coming to pay us a visit and join us for the mornings observations. 

Joakim had a good morning of observations too, with two Shags coming by! 

We spent the afternoon getting on with things at the Observatory, and Peter went to his faverite spot at Grenen to observe and say good bye for a while! After an amazing dinner of Dantes infamous quiches, we savoured our last evening with Peter before off to bed!!! 

People: Joakim Mathieson, Peter Denyer, Dante Shepard, Anna Moulin, Rolf Christiansen, Knud Pederson and Hebe Denny

Ringmærking at Jennes Sø:

Gransanger - 5, Rødhals - 1, Nordlig Gråsisken - 4, Lille Gråsisken - 3

This morning started as usual, with Hebe and Joakim heading to North Strand, and Dante and I heading to Grenen. It was a great day for raptors, with hundreds of common and rough legged buzzards (musvåge og fjeldvåge), kestrels (tårnfalk), sparrow hawks (spurvehøg), ospreys (fiskeørn), harriers (høg) and even a couple of merlins (dværgfalk)! The sea did not disappoint either, with highlights of 6 black throated divers and 2 black guillemots.

At Grenen the passerines were in full migrating mode, with over 30,000 counted! We also had a short sighting of a long-eared owl (skovhornugle), a couple of great grey shrikes (stor tornskade) and even some dancing cranes (trane)!

Joakim spent the afternoon ringing goldcrests (fuglekonge) and a robin (rødhals) by the lighthouse, while Hebe decided to go into town. Peter and I worked indoors, until we received a call from Dante about a great grey shrike down the lighthouse road. We headed out, sighting roe deer, green sandpipers (svaleklire) a grey wagtail (bjergvipstjert), and even a female sand lizard (markfirben) but sadly not the shrike. Instead, we stumbled through the wetlands and arrived at an evergreen copse were a crested tit (topmejse) was singing his little heart out. What an awesome end to the day!

Vejrudsigten lovede igen østenvind og endda også lidt sol. Derfor var det igen igen tidligt op og afsted til Nordstrand. Denne dag så rigtigt god ud for trækfuglene, så mon ikke en god fugl eller to skulle snige sig forbi i løbet af dagen? Det skulle senere vise sig, at det ikke var fuglene som skulle løbe med vores opmærksomhed alligevel.

Hebe, Anna, Preben og jeg ankommer til Nordstrand ca. kl.06:40 hvor Knud allerede sidder. Dante er taget op for at udfører trækfugletælling fra Grenen og Peter forsøger sig med lidt ringmærkning i fyrhaven. Dagen ved Nordstrand starter godt med en dværgfalk lige i det hvor for sat vores teleskoper op og bogfinkerne vælter allerede afsted i tusindevis. Jeg går straks i gang med, at tælle alle bogfinkerne, men det var altså noget af et job, skal det så lige siges idet der kom næsten 15.000 individer. Dog måtte jeg lade mig distrahere da det vi ikke turde håbe på ville ske, skete.

Kl. 07:20 for Knud Pedersen øje på et mærkeligt dyr ca. 60 meter væk. Det tager lige et par sekunder for ham, at forstå hvad han ser på. Men så kommer udbruddet! ’ULV!’ og efterfølgende ’WOLF’ (så vores engelske observatører også havde en chance for at forstå hvad i alverden han råbte af). Alle vender sig om og vi kigger nu lige ind i øjnene på ulven idet der føles som lang tid, men nok i virkeligheden kun var 2-3sek. Ulven vender sig rundt og lunder stille og roligt den anden vej. Det var tydeligt, at den ikke ville have noget med os og gøre og den søgte derfor målrettet væk fra os. Vi hopper op på toppen af en af de nærtliggende bakker og finder ulven igen nu ca.200-300 meter væk fra os. Her står den i 3-5min og skuer ud over heden imens vi tager billeder og video på livet løs. Til sidst løber den væk og forsvinder i vegetationen. Hold da op en oplevelse og hvor har vi bare været heldige!

Oplevelsen sad i kroppen resten og morgenen og for den sags skyld også resten af dagen, som gik på at snakke om ulven og vores fede oplevelse!

Videoen og billederne af ulven kan ses på vores Facebook-side Link:  https://www.facebook.com/Skagenfuglestation/

Dagen startede som sædvandeligt tideligt om morgenen. Da vinden var gået i øst i løbet af natten besluttede jeg mig for, at tage til Nordstrand for, at lave morgenens trækfugleobservation der. Hebe, Anna og Preben tog med og vi ankom netop i rette tid til, at se den røde sol stige langsomt op fra havet. Det er altid en dejlig start på dagen. Forårstrækket var i fulgt gang og mange småfugle passerede obsposten, både bogfinker, grønsisken, hvid vipstjert, blåmejse med flere kom forbi. Derudover kan nævnes dobbeltbekkasin, fiskeørn og dværgfalk. Det var altså rigtigt fine fugle som kom forbi de første par timer af dagen. Vi gemte dog det bedste til sidst!

I slutningen af obsperioden imens Hebe og Anna besøgte skarvkolonien (som meget overraskende var fuldstændig tom) fik jeg øje på sjov fugl! En RIGTIG sjov fugl. Ikke langt fra kysten lå en gruppe af fire sortænder, men hov – den ene skilte sig ud. En sortand med enorm gul blis på næbbet. DET ER EN AMERIKANSK SORTAND! Jeg fik gjort Preben opmærksom på fuglen og vi så den begge godt i 2 min før fuglen fløj mod vest. Jeg fik meldt fuglen ud på diverse fugle-apps, men den var desværre væk.

Herefter tog alle dvs. Hebe, Peter, Dante, Anna og jeg ud for at gøre det sidste arbejde færdig med nettene ude på Grenen. Imens vi gjorde dette blev vi opmærksomme på, at nogle havde genfundet den amerikanske sortand. FEDT! Alle skyndte sig ud til Norstrand og fik set fuglen fint.

Det blev altså en rigtig dejlig dag med fint besøg fra det fjerne udland.

Der 'morgenobses' fra Nordstrand

Folk kigger på amerikansk sortand... og en fiskeørn, som kom trækkende inde i landet.

It was a blustery day today, with strong winds from the south east. Despite that the four younger volunteers were up at Grenen nice and early with our guest Preben, a return visitor from last year, one of the three volunteers at Skagen that saw the Blå glente last summer! They had a good time, and saw a lot of birds.

I was intending to go out to Grenen to makes some adjustments to the nets and perhaps erect the last one, but the wind defeated me and instead I chose to do some migration monitoring from behind the ringing lab. I had a GREAT morning, seeing a lot of the birds that ended up at Grenen and at least one (ringdrossel) that wasn’t. It was good to get my first rørhøg and fiskeørn for the year, the ringdrossel was also a ‘year tick’. When the migration died down I headed back indoors to update some paperwork. The others joined me within the hour and Joakim and Preben went food shopping for the next few days. The wind does not die down and so Anna, Dante, Hebe and I head into the harbour looking for the Iceland gull (hvidvinget måge) which we found and the gråmåge was also present.

When we returned home, we discovered it was Preben’s birthday! He’d made a fantastic meal of vegetarian patties followed by a delicious Swiss cake.

The weather looks the same for the next few days, so apart from splitting into three groups to cover Grenen, North Strand and the Observatory, the planned activities remain the same. .

The glaucous gull (gråmåge)

Iceland gull (hvidvinget måge)

Anna, Hebe and I  headed up to Grenen for a beautiful windless morning. We saw a Sooty Shearwater, only the 4th ever in April in Denmark, and 25 Shags. What a spring it has been for Shags in Skagen this year, way over a hundred so far! We were joined by a Danish film crew who were filming a documentary about birders in Denmark. 

Peter and Joakim ringed at Grenen for the first time of the year. It was a pretty quiet trip for them with just a few Chiffchaffs, a Song Thrush and a Dunnock. However, they had better luck back at the lighthouse, with a beautiful male Brambling! Others ringed included Blue Tits, a couple of Great Tits, and a gorgeous male Goldcrest.

In the evening, we headed out for a wander along the beach, accompanied by the sound of Yellowhammers. We watched the gulls and the odd wader as the sun set.   

Waking up to a bit of a wild and windy morning, Anna, Dante and i headed out to Grenen to join Rolf again. It was quite a good morning, Anna and i, once again equiped with hotwater bottles, counted over 1000 Rød Strubet lom passing by! I am still completly enthralled by the huge number of birds that we see in one morning! The morning ended for us with a fantastic veiw of a female Hugorm resting by the path, really gorgeous!
Meanwhile, Peter headed out to Grenen in the morning to continue setting up the nets etc, and Joakim stayed back to guide a tour.

After a lovely morning of birds, catterpillars, snakes and lots of chattering, we headed back to the obs for lunch. Then Joakim, Anna and I headed out to join Peter at Grenen and Dante headed out to see his Dad who is visiting for a wee bit!
A few hours of wrestling with nets, wading through reeds and listening to the Rødrum later, we were finished setting up at Grenen!

We had quite a quiet evening, with Anna, Peter and Joakim getting on with things back at the obs, and me scampering off for a wee adventure on the bike to pick up some supplies and watch out for birds!

After a meal of leftovers and Icecream, we eventually hit bed!

The Hugorm at Grenen

Ringing at Jenne sø:

Gransanger -1 

Nordlig Gråsisken- 13

Gulspurv - 1